Thomas Nevison Simpson was born in London on 18 March 1909. When he was 15, he arrived in Adelaide with the last group of boys under the Barwell Scheme of South Australia. In 1928 he took the local preachers' examination and became a member of the Methodist Church. In 1936, he completed studies at Wesley College in Adelaide and at the University of Sydney. In August 1936, he was sent to the Methodist Mission in Rabaul, New Britain, and then to the Mission at Kavieng in New Ireland where he was Assistant Minister. In December 1936, Simpson was sent as the first Methodist Missionary to New Hanover where he was stationed at Ranmelek.

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